Now that the first snowfall has blanketed the Northeast, I’m reminded of why I always suggest to our customers that they invest in specialized winter safety equipment to remove snow and ice from their trailer tops.… Read More

I was in a meeting recently with the transportation team of a multi-billion dollar grocery chain and it got me thinking back to my days in engineering school.

My Fluid Mechanics professor did his best to make it an interesting topic. Translated into common-speak, Fluid Dynamics means “How to efficiently pump salsa and other slurries through a pipe.”

The professor was known for his legendary digressions that could begin with the mathematics of laminar flow and end up with a critique of Hollywood blockbusters. Sitting there with those grocery shippers, made me recall my professor pointing out the difference between knowing something and having access to that information.… Read More

As consumers, we do not always realize what is the magnitude of the infrastructure required to support the distribution of our everyday purchases.

The various components of these transportation networks must be robust and synchronized in order to perform adequately. This is especially critical in the case of produce (or any other product) with a very short life span.

Considering that once its journey from the field to the retail location is complete, produce will sit on store shelves, then in your fridge until you eat it – and you expect it to look/taste as good as if it was picked in your own backyard, the same day.

Today, the Panama Canal celebrates its 100th anniversary. Considered an engineering marvel which revolutionized maritime transportation, the Canal is currently being expanded to increase it’s capacity. New larger ships will be able to cross as soon as next year.… Read More

The 100th anniversary of the First World War is an appropriate opportunity for us to outline the paramount role of logistics in times of war, just as in times of peace. Under the pressure of war humans surpassed themselves to innovate and display a unique genius for supply, maintenance and transport.… Read More

At LIDD, we’ve decided to make some effort to put “supply chain infrastructure” on the map.

If you google the term “supply chain”, you’ll find dozens of definitions that say the same thing: the supply chain is the flow and transformation of goods from raw materials in the hands of producers to finished goods in the hands of consumers. What’s missing from these definitions is the recognition that supply chains are more than just a series of activities: they are a set of physical assets in which these activities take place.… Read More

In a gushing profile last week on 60 Minutes, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the company planned to deliver stuff in 30 minutes or less using flying drones dispatched from its network of DCs [watch it here].… Read More

There’s a greasy spoon on the Maine coast that serves the best Irish Benny (picture eggs Benedict with cornbeef hash in lieu of ham). We were there when a beer truck pulled up to an adjacent convenient store to make a delivery. We had time to order, eat and pay before that delivery truck was done.… Read More